Cristiano Ronaldo warmed-up for next week's "El Clasico" in brilliant style, netting a hat-trick against Deportivo as Real Madrid ran out comfortable 5-1 winners over Deportivo La Coruna.
Barcelona maintained their perfect record, after snatching a late equalizer through David Villa, with Cesc Fabregas scoring a double in a 3-2 victory over 10-man Sevilla.
Deportivo took a shock lead against the run of play in the 16th minute via Riki, but Real pulled level seven minutes later through a Ronaldo penalty, after Manuel Pablo impeded Angel Di Maria in the penalty area.
Di Maria and Ronaldo again scored before half-time to give Real a comfortable lead going into the second half. Ronaldo's compatriot Pepe headed in a Xabi Alonso free kick to make it 4-1, before the Portuguese superstar completed his hat-trick with another penalty.
"We were a bit asleep at the start but after we fell behind we woke up and played a good match," Ronaldo told Spanish television.
"We knew we couldn't afford to drop any more points and it was a very important win.
"We know Barcelona are a very difficult side and we are playing away but we have to be focused and concentrated and trust that we can produce a good performance and win," he added on next Sunday's clash with their archrivals.
Earlier, Barcelona eked out a win against Sevilla after going two goals down. Piotr Trochowski scored the opener for Sevilla in the 26th minute before Alvaro Negredo doubled the scoreline with a neat finish after leaving Alex Song for dead.
Cesc Fabregas reduced the deficit in the 53rd minute, and the game then slowly went Barca's way after Gary Medel was shown a red card with 20 minutes remaining.
Some sustained Barca pressure finally produced the equalizer, Fabregas taking a pass from Lionel Messi before chipping it over the goalkeeper.
David Villa then remarkably gave all three points for the league leaders in stoppage time with a wonderful finish.
Barcelona remain eight points ahead of Real Madrid with 18 points from six games.
In other matches, Granada held on for a 2-1 win over Celta Vigo, while Osasuna picked up their first win of the season with a 4-0 victory against Levante.